Notes / Commercial Description:
A French style Christmas beer. Expect a light amber beer with red tints that is malt forward with noticeable yeast flavors of white pepper
and citrus from an authentic French ale yeast.
Slight herbal hop note in the background,
with a spicy, citrusy, peppery aroma.

Smell: Spicy, fruity and tart. Some cherry, pepper, and an earthy, metallic hoppiness.

Taste: Somewhat toasty malt body. Light biscuit notes, definitely some cherry. Then the yeast and hops come through, with pepper, herbs and a little too much metal. Slightly tart on the finish, but the metal and cherry dominate which is a distraction. But let it warm a bit (little more so than expected for the style) and much of the metallic off-flavors disappear.

Feel: Moderately high carbonation with a medium body. Finish is a little odd.

Overall: Interesting SnowStorm release. I think all of the right elements are here, but I wish the malt body was more evident, and the metallic and fruity notes were dialed back a notch. I like the light tartness though; that was surprising.

From tasting notes. L: Pours brilliant deep amber to chestnut under a thin tan foam collar.
S: The nose is spice, cinnamon, orange, cardamom, over malt, light clove
T: the flavors are the spices over a light malt, some honey, light caramel sweetness that is answered by a light hop touch in the finish. Behind the fruit cake there is a hint of chocolate but very faint. There is some drying astringency in the finish from the spice that helps balance the sweetness.
F: medium full body, medium high carbonation
O: Not as funky French as it could be but is still a good beer.

Appearance: Pours a deep copper amber orange with a lot of rising bubbles. Big four finger off white head with good retention. Leaves a lot of lacing sticking to the glass.

Smell: A malty, yeasty, fruity, and spicy aroma. Lively French yeast and toasted malt with hints of banana, clove, and pepper. Bready biscuit, caramel, toffee, and cracker. Hints of apple and dark cherry along with some citrus lemon. Light hints of earthy and herbal hops that linger in the background. Kind of smells like a Belgian ale. A very solid aroma.

Taste: Like the aroma hints, a spicy, yeast driven and fruity taste. Good mix of malts and French yeast that give a taste of bananas and apple along with some clove and white pepper spicing. Malt notes of bready biscuit, wheat grains, cracker, caramel, and toffee. Also a subtle taste of dark cherry and lemon zest. Mild taste of hops with some earthy herbal hops in the background. A really nice taste.